looneytunesfandomcom-20200223-history
One Froggy Evening
One Froggy Evening is a 1955 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones. Plot A demolition worker finds Michigan J. Frog in a box in the cornerstone of a building and sees him singing. Hoping for fame and fortune, he takes the frog to see a talent agent. However, Michigan won't sing in front of the agent. He then sees a theater for rent, takes out his life savings, and has Michigan sing on stage. Michigan keeps singing until the curtain opens, to which the audience boos when Michigan won't sing in front of them. Michigan continues singing when nobody except its owner is around. As for the man, he is soon penniless and living on a park bench during a cold winter day. Michigan keeps performing for the man, and his singing is so loud it attracts the attention of a policeman. When the cop demands to know what was all the noise, the man points to Michigan doing it. When the frog makes a feeble croak for the policeman, the cop arrests the man for disturbing the peace, whereupon he is remanded to a psychiatric hospital for attempting to blame it on the frog. Sometime later, the man is released. Broken by his feeble attempts at fame and fortune, the man regains his composure by putting the frog back in the box. The man passes by the construction site of the "Tregoweth Brown 40-Story Building", and entombs the frog by placing the box inside the new cornerstone which is soon sealed. In 2056, the building is taken apart by a futuristic demolition worker who finds Michigan's box and hears the frog sing "Hello, My Baby". The 21st century construction worker starts thinking to himself about big bucks, and sneaks off with the frog's box. Availability * Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1,001 Rabbit Tales (the version shown in this movie cuts the end where the 2056 construction worker finds Michigan J. Frog and makes off with him) * VHS - A Salute to Chuck Jones * VHS - Little Giants (special feature to coincide with Michigan J Frog's 40th anniversary) * LaserDisc - Looney Tunes: Curtain Calls: Classic Music and Show Business Cartoons * VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 5: Musical Masterpieces * DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc 4 * DVD - Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 2 * Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 2 * DVD - Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces Notes * This short is one of the four shorts produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons to be selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the National Film Registry. The other shorts are "Porky in Wackyland", "Duck Amuck", and "What's Opera, Doc?" It is also the third Chuck Jones short to be selected for it. * This short is the first featuring Michigan J. Frog. Even though he's considered a one-shot character, One Froggy Evening's popularity (including the aforementioned induction into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress) led to Michigan starring in a later cartoon (Another Froggy Evening) and being the mascot for The WB network. * This short was later included in Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, but the ending where the futuristic construction worker finds Michigan J. Frog and restarts the cycle of trying to exploit the frog's talents was cut, making it end when the 1955 construction worker puts him back and runs off. Censorship * When this episode aired on ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show and on The WB's The Bugs and Daffy Show, the scene where the man tries to attract patrons to his theater to hear Michigan J. Frog sing is cut to remove the part where, after his "FREE ADMISSION" sign fails, he creates a "FREE BEER" sign and draws a crowd. The edited version makes it look like the man's "FREE ADMISSION" sign was enough to draw a crowd (surprisingly, this was not cut on Cartoon Network or Boomerang, given that both channels have edited out alcohol references). Gallery Onefroggyevening7.jpg Onefroggyevening6.jpg Onefroggyevening5.jpg Onefroggyevening4.jpg Onefroggyevening3.jpg Onefroggyevening2.jpg Onefroggyevening.jpg Onefroggyevening8.jpg OneFroggyEvening_Lobby_Card.png|Lobby Card Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:Shorts Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones Category:1955 Category:Michigan J. Frog Cartoons Category:Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales Cartoons Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese Category:Cartoons animated by Abe Levitow Category:Cartoons animated by Richard Thompson Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer